Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to overhead support systems, such as used with ceilings and plenums, and, more particularly, to overhead support systems having adjustable lighting elements.
Certain interior environments, such as clean rooms, hospital-like operating rooms, radiology rooms, and dental suites, utilize extremely clean air in order to protect target sites and work therein. Electronic equipment may generate heat. As such, systems may be used that concentrate cool air within the vicinity of the heat-generating equipment. Individuals, such as surgeons, may also prefer to have available additional heated or cooled air in the immediate vicinity of an operating table in order to hold a patient at a stable temperature or dissipate the excess heat created by bright lamps or a team of doctors and nurses surrounding the patient.
In modern operating rooms, equipment such as robotic surgical aids may be used. The surgical aids typically make surgery more precise and less prone to errors caused by the inherent fallibility of human hands. Additionally, even in typical clean environments, there may be a significant need for overhead-supported equipment, such as light boom assemblies, automated material handling systems, and the like. Typically, such equipment is hung from the building structure and descends through the ceiling in order to preserve valuable floor space.
A boom assembly may be supported from a ceiling. For example, in a medical environment, an articulated boom assembly may extend from a ceiling of an operating environment. Ventilation equipment, such as air diffusers, may be positioned within the ceiling and configured to direct air flow over the operating environment. However, the articulated boom assembly, and equipment secured to a distal end of the articulated boom assembly, may be disposed within an airflow path between the ceiling and the operating environment.
Typically, a lighting assembly in a surgical space is supported by a movable boom. Healthcare professionals, such as surgeons and nurses, physically move the entire lighting assembly to illuminate a target area for surgery, for example. However, as the boom assembly is moved, the lighting assembly may be disposed between the surgical environment and an air delivery outlet within the ceiling. As such, the boom assembly may block air delivery to the target surgical site. In general, airflow to the operating environment may be at least partially blocked by the lighting assembly and boom. Moreover, as the airflow passes over and around the lighting assembly, the airflow may generate turbulence in the form of eddies, vortices, and the like. The turbulence may adversely affect the operating environment. For example, the resulting turbulence may cause components, items, and even anatomical portions of a patient within the operating environment to shift or move and/or cause contaminants to enter the operating environment.